To make a successful migration to the cloud, an organization needs to identify and address these risks early on. Plan ahead for the journey and the transition will be safer and smoother, ensuring optimal use of the new environment.

To protect against losses, healthcare providers require a dedicated cyber insurance policy that covers a full range of exposures, and provides direct loss and liability protection for risks created by the use of technology and data in a healthcare organization’s day-to-day operations

While the Aadhaar system has helped eliminate fake or duplicate food ration cards, it is sometimes difficult to get access to food rations in rural areas as a result of the use of rudimentary machines, little or no electricity and the lack of internet access.

Independence Blue Cross Privacy Office became aware of the incident on July 19 after they were notified that information of its patients was accessible online to the public. The data uploaded by the employee was accessible to the public between 23rd of April and 20th of July

By enlisting the services of a cybersecurity firm, the Fetal Diagnostic Institute of the Pacific were able to successfully remove the virus, clean the system and confirm no malware remained in the server. They were also able to restore data from backups.

With the Office for the National Coordinator (ONC) setting an accuracy goal of 0.5 percent by 2020 and 0.01 percent by 2024, pressure is mounting to find a viable solution to the nation’s patient identification and matching crisis.

According to the study, this is the eighth consecutive year that healthcare organizations have had the highest costs associated with data breaches per lost or stolen record. Ponemon gauged the average cost per lost or stolen record across all sectors at $148.

Government agencies and providers of healthcare across the United States have seen an increase in the number of cybersecurity breaches in the past couple of months, with sensitive information from hundreds of thousands of people being left exposed as the sector struggles to find an adequate defense mechanism.

Continuous risks posed by insiders are making penalties for violations to become more frequent. A criminal violation can occur as a result of an intentional act which is in violation of HIPAA privacy or security requirements

Making employees an asset, adopting a cybersecurity policy, securing the weakest link, choosing cloud technology and making IT a priority are some of the ways by which smaller organizations can improve security

CHANGE: Most Americans say that pharmaceutical manufacturers, banks, advertisers, energy firms, and tech companies have too much power and influence in today’s American economy, according to Public Attitudes Toward Technology Companies, a research report from the Pew Research Center. A plurality of Americans says labor unions and farming and agriculture have too little power, along with a majority of people who believe that small business lacks sufficient power in the current U.S. economy. This data point is part of a larger consumer survey on Americans’ attitudes about the growing role of technology in society, particularly with respect to political and social impacts. There’s a subtle finding that is akin to healthcare surveys of patients and consumers: most Americans say technology’s products and services have more a positive than negative impact on peoples’ personal lives, but less so on society-at-large. Similarly, in healthcare polls, most consumers say “my” healthcare is better than healthcare overall in the nation. Overall, 58% of consumers say they can trust major technologies companies to do what is right “some of the time.” Only 1 in 4 (28%) of Americans believe they can trust tech companies to do right by them at least most of the time. As a result of perceptions of concentrated power and lack of trust, one-half of U.S. consumers think major tech companies should be regulated more than they currently are; in particular, 57% of Democrats believe in more regulation for tech firms compared with 44% of Republicans. There are other important differences to note between people based on gender, age, level of education, and political affiliation/party ID. More women tend to believe that technology companies support the views of men over women. More Republicans believe that tech companies support the views of liberals over conservatives. And, college graduates have more positive views of personal and social benefits of technology companies versus people with less education. Younger people age 18-29 have more faith in technology companies’ intentions for good versus “bad.” Older people 65 and up tend to believe the tech companies should be more heavily regulated, and that the companies fail to anticipate how products will impact society. The survey was conducted in May and June 2018 among 4,594 U.S. adults. Health Populi’s Hot Points: Healthcare delivery is becoming more digital, via electronic health records, telehealth and virtual visits, remote health monitoring, and self-care tools. Each of these platforms generates data at the N of 1 point-of-care for the patient, consumer, and caregiver. And those small data are getting aggregated into Big Data analyzed in algorithms via augmented intelligence and cognitive computing. Consumers have begun to get a taste of what this might mean for the privacy and security of that data, first through financial services and retail store data breaches, and in the past several years, cyber-security risks of health data. Trust underpins health engagement. The results of this Pew study tell us that consumers’ trust levels if various industry segments are low: especially for pharma, financial services, and marketers. It’s not new-news that consumers’ trust in pharma has eroded for years, as I pointed out here in Health Populi based on the latest Edelman Trust Barometer. What was intriguing about that research is that biotech was much more trusted than pharma, with biotech being seen as more innovative. Through a marketing lens, then, the biotech has done a better job at bolstering consumer trust than pharma has done. Layer in banking to the healthcare ecosystem and consumers’ growing role as payor. Credit scores, payment plans for hospital stays and specialty drugs, and the expanding financial risk due to high-deductibles all play into the patient-as-payor and trust. These financial and trust-risks impact Republicans and Democrats alike. The Pew research continues to build the case that prescription drug pricing, and healthcare financial risks, will play a large role in popular culture, and in the 2018 mid-term and 2020 Presidential elections. The post What the Pew Data on Americans’ Views on Technology Means for Healthcare appeared first on HealthPopuli.com .

The judge wrote in the decision that the undisputed material facts made available to him established that MD Anderson “was not only aware of the need to encrypt devices in order to assure that confidential data including ePHI not be improperly disclosed, but it established a policy requiring the encryption and protection of devices containing ePHI.